Heidelberg has taken the automation of computer-to-plate (CtP) processing to the next level by integrating its new Compact Pallet Loader (CPL) and Compact Bender into a single CtP line.
Heidelberg's Suprasetter CtP system with fully integrated Compact Pallet Loader & Bender
Dr. David Schmedding, Chief Technology & Sales Officer at Heidelberg, says: “By systematically pushing ahead with the goal of achieving end-to-end automation in prepress production, Heidelberg is emphasising its credentials as a full-range supplier for the entire packaging, commercial, and label production process. Print shops can use the Compact Pallet Loader and the Compact Bender to cut operating and personnel costs and counter the skills shortage.”
As is name suggests, the CPL has a small, ‘compact’ footprint, regardless of the Heidelberg Suprasetter performance class it is being integrated with, right up to the top-of-the-line 106/A106 platesetter model which operates at a speed of 55 plates per hour. The CPL enables fully automatic loading of printing plates and Heidelberg Prinect workflow further enables the CtP system to operate fully autonomously, in line with the job structure.
At the end of the process, the new Compact Bender plate bending system concludes this fully automated processing of the offset plates. When combined with an optional barcode recognition function, the system makes it possible to supply the plates required for the printing process – presorted according to printing press, job, and plate set – without any manual intervention whatsoever.
This means that the new single CP line can image up to 1,200 printing plates in the size range 650x750mm to 1,050x1,200mm, largely autonomously, in non-stop operation, pallet by pallet.
Heidelberg says that the new integrated system ‘plugs a gap’ between its existing Dual Cassette Loader, with capacity of 100 plates per cassette, and the Auto Pallet Loader which handles up to 1,500 plates with a uniform plate format. Pilot user Druckstudio GmbH in Düsseldorf, a commercial packaging company, confirms this and Werner Drechsler, founder and Managing Partner says: “Work such as filling plate cassettes by hand and bending imaged printing plates previously took a great deal of time. We can now make these processes much more efficient and significantly boost our productivity.”
Heidelberg Suprasetter 106/A106 models manufactured from 2017 onward can now be retrofitted with a CPL.
